Protective foot cover

ABSTRACT

A sanitary and protective foot and shoe cover is formed of a single sheet of flexible material. A top opening in the cover accommodates the leg of the wearer. The cover includes a continuous seamless bottom sole portion and a top portion having a forward toe and rear heel seam extending upwardly from the sole portion to the leg opening. An elastic band is provided about the opening and through the forward toe seam to provide a covering over the foot which generally conforms to the foot and is resiliently attached thereto. A conductive tape is sewed to the seamless sole portion and is extended upwardly through the protective cover at the non-elasticized heel seam.

United States Patent [191 Larsh 'et al6 [451 Mar. 19, 1974 PROTECTIVEFOOT COVER [75] Inventors: Ray E. Larsh, Milwaukee; Donald I.

Urbansky, Thiensville. both of Wis.

73 Assignee: Kleen Test Products Inc.,

52 us. Cl. 317/2 B, 36/9 R, 36/9 A [51] Int. Cl A61n 1/14 [58] Field ofSearch 317/2 B; 36/9 R, 9 A, 10

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3.337.770 8/1967 Saraceni eta] 317/2 B 3.402.323 9/1968 Longstreth 317/2 B 2.628.438 2/1953 Luchs36/9 R 3.648.109 3/1972 Tims et al. 317/2 B Primary Examiner-L. T. HixAttorney. Agent, or Firm-Andrus, Sceales. Starke &

Sawall 57 1 ABSTRACT A sanitary and protective foot and shoe cover isformed of a single sheet of flexible material. A top opening in thecover accommodates the leg of the wearer. The cover includes acontinuous seamless bottom sole portion and a top portion having aforward toe and rear heel seam extending upwardly from the sole portionto the leg opening. An elastic band is provided about the opening andthrough the forward toe seam to provide a covering over the foot whichgenerally conforms to the foot and is resiliently attached thereto. Aconductive tape is sewed to the seamless sole portion and is extendedupwardly through the protective cover at the non-elasticized heel seam.

5 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures l PROTECTIVE FOOT COVER BACKGROUND OF THEINVENTION The present invention relates to a sanitary protective coverfor the feet and shoes of a person and particularly for temporaryapplication so as to maintain a sterile condition for hospital rooms andthe like.

In certain work and personnel areas, special shoe coverings are providedto cover the shoes of personnel within the room and thereby prevent dustand other contaminants on the shoes from contaminating the areaatmosphere. A shoe cover may also advantageously be applied to protectthe wearers shoes which can be damaged by airborne foreign matter whichcan come in contact with the shoe. For example, in a hospital, variousrooms, such as surgical procedure rooms, are subject to severerestrictions on contamination of the atmosphere. Further, in hospitalcast rooms and the like, the plaster of paris material may tend to fallonto the shoes of persons working near the casting table. As suchmaterial will adversely affect shoe leathers, the shoes of personnel areadvantageously covered. Similar situations may be encountered incommercial establishments. As a result, a demand exists for a relativelyinexpensive and replaceable shoe cover.

Various shoe covers for use in such applications have been suggested.For example, U. S. Pat. No. 3,648,109 discloses a sanitary shoe coveringwhich is formed of a foldable material folded along a heel line andsewed throughout the sole and toe area with elastic provided about thefoot opening and the sole area to accommodate various size shoes. Aconductive tape is sewn into the sole seam and projects outwardly. Theend extends inwardly and through the foot opening for attachment to thebody of the wearer to prevent the static charge accumulation on theperson. This shoe covering can be adapted to a large variety of shoe orfoot sizes. The lower elastic portion is, of course, subjected to thepressure of the wearer and the lower seam may create a small ridge ormultiple humps.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is particularly directedto a new and improved sanitary and protective foot and/or shoe coveringwhich is readily adapted to a large variety of sizes while maintainingsimplicity and reliability in construction. Generally, in accordancewith the present invention, the covering is formed of a flexible,continuous sheet which is folded laterally upon itself and sewed in theheel and toe portions of the foot while defining a completely continuousand uninterrupted sole portion. The toe and heel sewed portionsterminate in a leg accommodating opening which is provided with asuitable elastic construction for accommodating the leg of the wearer.In addition, an elastic means is provided in the seam of the toe portionto permit the expansion of the cover to accommodate a wide variety ofshoe and foot sizes. The elastic means is thereby maintained above thesole portion and thus is not subject to the pressure and forces of thepersons foot or the like. This provides greater protection to thestretch construction.

Where an antistatic means is to be employed, a tape or strap is, inaccordance with a further aspect of this invention, attached to the soleportion lying parallel to the sole portion and with an end extendedupwardly at the heel for attachment to the wearer. This maintains asmooth, continuous sole portion.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of thecover;

FIG. 4 is a rear elevational view of the cover;

FIG. 5 is a vertical section taken on line 5-5 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 6 is a developed view of the material prior to folding and sewing.

DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawing andparticularly to FIG. 1, a sanitary and protective cover 1 defines apocket overlaying and enclosing a shoe 2 of a wearer 3. The cover 1completely encloses the shoe 2 and includes a top foot opening 4 whichfits snugly about the foot of the wearer 3 immediately above the topedge of the shoe 2.

The cover 1 is formed .of any suitable flexible and foldable material.The cover 1 can be readily and conveniently formed of a suitable paperor cloth material which can be sewed and which has sufficient strengthto permit wearing by a person under normal walking conditions within agiven room or area. The cover 1 may also be formed from a suitableplastic or of a material having a plastic portion in the seam areas ashereinafter discussed for interconnection through heat, pressure andcombinations thereof. I

The shoe cover 1 in accordance with the present invention includes acontinuous, uninterrupted sole portion 5 which is joined with an upperor top portion having a toe seam 6 and a heel seam 7. The heel and toeseams 6 and 7 extend upwardly and terminate in spaced relation to eachother at the edge of the foot opening 4 which allows the wearer to applyand remove the covering from the shoe 2 as shown in FIG. 1.

The heel seam 7 is a fixed, nonextendible, sewed seam in the illustratedembodiment of the invention.

In contrast, the toe seam 6 is sewed with an integrated elasticmaterial, shown as a rubber strip 8 which is sewn into the seam by theinterconnecting thread 9. The strip 8 is applied in an expanded positionand se cured along the seam 6 to produce a plurality of attachmentpoints. When the sewed seam 7 is released, the elasticity of the innerstrip 8 provides an automatic, incremental gathering of the material toshorten the length of the cover 1 to a minimum size. This provides anelastic support of the toe portion such that when the cover 1 is appliedover a shoe 2, it permits resilient extension of the toe portion. Thisresults in conforming of the cover 1 to the shoe 2 of the wearer 3 asshown in FIG. 1, over a wide range of shoe sizes and styles.

In addition, an elastic material 9 is similarly sewed into or otherwiseinterconnected to the peripheral edge of the opening 4 and in theillustrated embodiment of the invention completely encircles theopening. This establishes a reduced resilient opening to firmly applythe edge against the leg portion of the wearer 3 to additionally retainthe cover 1 to the foot and to completely enclose the shoe and therebyprevent escape of any foreign matter carried on the foot, or the contactof any airborne matter with the shoe.

A conductive strap 10, which may conveniently be conductive tapematerial, is attached to the sole portion 5 so as to lie flat upon thesole portion. An end of the strap extends upwardly through the heelportion of the cover 1 for attachmentto the wearers body as at 11 inFIG. 1. The strap 10 is shown sewed to the sole portion 5, but may beattached in any suitable manner.

In particular, the illustrated cover 1 is preferably formed from asingle sheet 12 of material such as shown in FIG. 5 which can be'readilydie cut or otherwise formed on a mass production process from anelongated length of the material for the cover. The back heel edge 13 isa straight line. The leg opening 4 is formed by the opposite side edge14 extending from the back edge 13 and terminating in the edge 15 whichis curved to produce a tapered toe portion. In the construction, thesheet 12 is merely folded upon itself to align the opposite halves ofthe back heel edge 13 to define a generally straight heel portion and amore or less curved toe portion. The heel and toe seams 6 and 7 are theninterconnected in any suitable manner such as sewing or the like along aseam line as shown at 16 and 17 where the material is a paper-likefabric or similar material. If formed of a heat and/or pressure sealablematerial, at least in the seam portions, the edges may becorrespondingly attached. The toe seams 6 and the top opening 14 areprovided with the expanded or stretched resilient material, which can bethe strips 8 and 9 of a suitable rubber, synthetic rubber or the like.The elastic material results in a contraction of the toe portion and thefoot opening. As a result, when the cover 1 is applied to the shoe, itwill generally conform to the shoe with the opening snugly drawn aboutthe upper portion of the foot to completely enclose the shoe.

The antistatic contact strap 10 can, of course, be applied before orafter the sewing of the toe and heel portions. It can advantageously befirst applied and then sewed into the adjacent lower ends of the heeland toe portion, as shown. The integral attachment extension extendsupwardly and through the top opening for convenient application to thewearer as shown in FIG. 1.

This provides a convenient and inexpensive covering construction whichcan be practically applied in special rooms and areas of hospitals,commercial and other institutional buildings and the like.

Various modes of carrying out the invention are contemplated as beingwithin the scope of the following claims, particularly pointing out anddistinctly claiming the subject matter which is regarded as theinvention:

I claim:

1. A protective cover to be worn over the shoe or foot of an individualperson to essentially completely enclose the foot portion, comprising aflexible sheet material body defining a pocket having a top openingthrough which the foot is inserted, said body being formed with a soleportion and an upper enclosing top portion, said top portion includingsaid top opening and a heel portion and a toe portion and having a seamextending longitudinally of the toe portion from the sole portion to thetop opening,

a first resilient strip secured along a substantial portion of thelength of the seam with a gathering of the flexible sheet material alongthe corresponding length of the toe portion to provide an expandablecover which readily conforms to a wide variety of different sized andshaped feet.

2. The cover as defined in claim 1, wherein said resilient strip issecured within said toe seam and secured at a plurality of spaced pointsto create a multiple gathering of the flexible material along thecorresponding length of the toe portion.

3. The cover as defined in claim 1 and further including a secondresilient strip secured about the periphery of the top opening forresiliently collapsing the periphery of said opening against the upperportion of shoe and/or leg of the individual to completely enclose thefoot portion.

4. The cover as defined in claim 1 and further including a groundingstrap means for preventing buildup of static electricity on said person,said grounding strap means being secured along the exterior sole portionof the covering, said strap having an extension portion extending fromthe heel portion of the cover for attachment to the body of the wearer.

5. The cover of claim 1, wherein one end of said first resilient stripterminates at said sole portion and the opposite end of said stripterminates at said top opening,

said sole portion being smooth and free of gathering.

1. A protective cover to be worn over the shoe or foot of an individualperson to essentially completely enclose the foot portion, comprising aflexible sheet material body defining a pocket having a top openingthrough which the foot is inserted, said body being formed with a soleportion and an upper enclosing top portion, said top portion includingsaid top opening and a heel portion and a toe portion and having a seamextending longitudinally of the toe portion from the sole portion to thetop opening, a first resilient strip secured along a substantial portionof the length of the seam with a gathering of the flexible sheetmaterial along the corresponding length of the toe portion to provide anexpandable cover which readily conforms to a wide variety of differentsized and shaped feet.
 2. The cover as defined in claim 1, wherein saidresilient strip is secured within said toe seam and secured at aplurality of spaced points to create a multiple gathering of theflexible material along the corresponding length of the toe portion. 3.The cover as defined in claim 1 and further including a second resilientstrip secuRed about the periphery of the top opening for resilientlycollapsing the periphery of said opening against the upper portion ofshoe and/or leg of the individual to completely enclose the footportion.
 4. The cover as defined in claim 1 and further including agrounding strap means for preventing buildup of static electricity onsaid person, said grounding strap means being secured along the exteriorsole portion of the covering, said strap having an extension portionextending from the heel portion of the cover for attachment to the bodyof the wearer.
 5. The cover of claim 1, wherein one end of said firstresilient strip terminates at said sole portion and the opposite end ofsaid strip terminates at said top opening, said sole portion beingsmooth and free of gathering.